The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has declared Yobe as the most affordable state to live in and commute to other parts of the country.

It attributed the low costs of living to the state’s falling inflation rate from 13.5 per cent to 11.43 per cent, while food inflation continues to decrease from 17.9 per cent in June to 15.1 per cent in July 2025.

These were revealed in the bureau’s 2025 July Report released to newsmen at the weekend in Damaturu, the state capital.

The report stated that the State’s Agricultural Empowerment Programme (SAEP) has impacted the productivity of over 5,300 farmers to generate more income by flooding the markets with last year’s crop harvests.

It added that the SAEP, launched by Vice President Kashim Shettima, along with Governor Mai Mala Buni, has wooed many youths and women into the agricultural sector to boost food security and employment in the state.

The Bureau added that the generated incomes of farmers are being invested in this year’s cropping season, while targeting the irrigation farming projects in the Kumadugu/Yobe River Basins comprising Bade, Geidam, Bursari communities, and the Nguru wetlands.

The distributed farm inputs included tractors, harvesters, disc ploughs and harrows, land tillers, fertilisers, and dozens of solar-powered irrigation pumps and pesticides,” it said, adding: “The agricultural empowerment initiative aims to make agriculture more attractive and affordable in sustaining the state’s economic growth and development.

“The success of the Buni administration’s agricultural drive underscores the potential of targeting agricultural investments to ensure food security in reducing the costs of living and commuting in the state.” (The Guardian)